Belgaum airport to be upgraded

BELGAUM: Belgaum airport will be upgraded; the central government has granted Rs 293 crore for upgradation.
The existing runway will be stretched to 1830 mtrs. The airport will be upgraded with a view to making way for ATR-72 flights, which have a capacity to accommodate 78 passengers and once the runway is stretched, more flights can be introduced from Belgaum.The works pertaining to the extension of runway, taxi stand and development of other facilities at the airport will be commenced once the tender process are over. Most of the preliminary works for upgradation of airport have completed and within few days, the work is expected to start. At present, once in day, Spicejet flight is operated between Belgaum and Bangalore; due to lack of facilities more flights could not be introduced. However, once the upgradation is completed, we can see more flights operating from Belgaum airport.
Recently MPs, Suresh Angadi, Ramesh Katti and Prabhakar Kore met Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Pawar and briefed him about the prevailing condition of the Belgaum airport. The MPs requested the minister to early upgradation of the airport. They briefed the minister about the need to have regular flights from Belgaum to other important cities. A large number of businesspersons and industrialists from Belgaum largely depended on Bangalore and Mumbai for many decades. Due to lack of flights from Belgaum, people in the region go to Hubli airport for which they have to travel 100-km distance.